Not much will happen in time for Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, but the National Capital Commission wants Canadians to see their capital city in a better light — at least at night.

The NCC has posted a request for proposals, inviting consultants who want to develop an illumination plan for the capital to submit their credentials and proposals.

It expects to award a contract in May and receive a final report on the plan by July 2016.

The NCC has been gearing up for this for a while. It held a public session on the subject last fall and CEO Mark Kristmanson and his staff have held meetings with mayors of Ottawa and Gatineau and many other stakeholders.

“This will be a long-term legacy for the capital,” Kristmanson said in an interview.

There isn’t time to do a lot before 2017, he warned — perhaps some temporary installations if the NCC can secure some funding, and maybe something at the National Arts Centre, whose $110-million renovation will be completed in 2017. “But at least we’ll get started and we’ll certainly have the plan,” Kristmanson said.

According to the tender document, the NCC is looking for a multidisciplinary consultant team to develop the plan, as well as an implementation strategy that is “feasible, cost effective and reflective of the values of its users and of Canadians.”

We’d like to have something introduced in 2017, even if it’s made up of a few permanent things and a few temporary things

The project is intended to create a “holistic vision for night time illumination of the core of the capital,” the document says, including public and private buildings, street lighting and the lighting of selected piece of infrastructure and public art.

It says the plan will unfold over 10 years, focusing first on maintenance and lighting updates that are already required. But it should also include a demonstration plan that supports the development of a first project that could be completed by the end of 2016.

“We’d like to have something introduced in 2017, even if it’s made up of a few permanent things and a few temporary things,” Kristmanson said.

The plan should develop an “artistic and cohesive lighting vision” that will highlight the beauty of the core area at night and emphasize sites of national significance, the NCC says.

It should also highlight buildings, monuments, streets and public spaces that have unique architectural attributes, creating a “harmonious night scape” in the capital.

That reflects Kristmanson’s own views. “I’m increasingly using the words, ‘creating a nocturnal cultural landscape,’” he said. “As opposed to lighting specific buildings and making sure things are highlighted, you’re really creating the landscape that you see at night.”

At the same time, the NCC would like to know what members of the public think are the top-10 elements of the capital that are either underlit or should be included in the program, Kristmanson said.

The biggest player is Public Works, which has responsibility for such sites as Parliament Hill and the Government Conference Centre, the future temporary home of the Senate.

“We’ll see where they’re at,” said Kristmanson. “I know their plans extend over many years, but there could be some opportunity to bring some lighting on line for 2017.”

I know their plans extend over many years, but there could be some opportunity to bring some lighting on line for 2017

He plans to meet soon with the new deputy minister at Public Works. “We’ll have a chance to explore that a little bit,” he said.

Kristmanson said the timing of the illumination initiative is “superb” because technological advances now mean energy-efficient LED lighting is feasible. “It’s possible now to do a major illumination plan and have it also be a green plan.”

The NCC is holding a public workshop on the illumination plan from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at its headquarters at 40 Elgin St. Space is limited, so those interested should email info@ncc-ccn.ca to register.

GATINEAU, Que. — Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau was angry over a TV news report about himself hours before he was arrested for assault and sexual assault, the complainant said Monday in testimony at his trial.

The alleged victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, testified that she became nervous as Brazeau became increasingly aggressive over the course of an evening on Feb. 6, 2013.

He drank martinis and another cocktail mixed with orange juice as he checked Twitter and sent messages on his smartphone, she told court.

The woman started testifying Monday morning on the opening day of the case. She is expected to be on the stand for the rest of the day.

Brazeau was charged with assault and sexual assault after the incident at a home in Gatineau. He has pleaded not guilty.

Testimony before a judge alone began with Gatineau police officer Patrick Quinn presenting photos taken at the residence.

Some photos showed the broken spindles of railings from different stairways inside the three-storey house. Quinn also presented photos of the complainant, which appeared to show bruises and red marks on her back, arm, wrist, shoulder and knee.

As well as the photos, the judge also saw two pieces of evidence, including a bra with a torn strap and a metal button from a pair of pants.

Police also found a damaged photo in the house featuring three people, including Brazeau and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper’s face had been torn out of the photo, which had been framed.

Quebec provincial police confirmed Friday they have removed two bodies from the charred home of two missing children in Gracefield, Que. a small town 100 kilometres north of Gatineau.

Sgt. Claude Denis said the two bodies were recovered late Thursday night.

Police would not confirm if they were missing children Matthew, four years old, and Mélanie, two years old, saying identification would have to wait for an autopsy.

Denis wouldn’t say where in the house the bodies were located.

Police plan to continue their investigation into the cause of the fire today.

The house on Chemin Eloi-Lachapelle stood about one kilometre down a winding road off Highway 105 just south of Gracefield. It was the home of Eric Courtney and his wife, Tina.

Firefighters were able to save the family’s smallest child, a seven-month-old infant. The child and both parents also suffered some injuries.

The fire, which started around 3:30 p.m., continued to burn late into the evening with thick smoke clouding the area as firefighters poured water onto the flames. With the building still ablaze firefighters were unable to gain access, said Sgt. Marc Tessier, spokesman for the Sûreté du Québec.

The police spokesman did not confirm identities, but said two children were missing and that a man and a woman had been sent to hospital, along with another “minor.” All were suffering from smoke inhalation and shock, but none was in life-threatening condition, he said.

It appears the situation could have been even worse. Someone familiar with the family said it is a large one, with eight children. The eldest child was away on a trip, but four of the other children were apparently at school late into the afternoon when the fire started.

Mike Carroccetto / Ottawa CitizenFirefighters battle a fire on Ch. Eloi-Lachapelle near Gracefield, Quebec, Thursday, February 26, 2015. Two children are missing and three other people (two adults and a child) were sent to hospital fire. The home was completely destroyed.

“They got home late or otherwise they might have been there (when the fire started),” said the acquaintance.

In the absence of hydrants, firefighters had to haul water to the scene.

Gracefield Mayor Joanne Poulin wiped tears from her eyes at the scene Thursday night. She said she didn’t know the family personally but that many in her community did.

“It’s tragic,” she said. “For a small community like us, it’s not easy for everybody.”

Poulin said the town of about 2,400 will provide psychological help for the family and firefighters, many of whom may know the family. “It’s quite difficult for them.”

An investigation into the fire’s cause will begin once the blaze was extinguished, Tessier said.

It has been a tragic month of fires at homes around Canada.

On Wednesday, four children died when fire engulfed a rural two-storey home in Kane, Man.

The children’s parents and three other children managed to escape. Firefighters were unable to rescue four young brothers trapped in the burning house.

Last weekend in Gatineau, 12-year-old twins Gabrielle and Jacob Rondeau, perished when a fire believed to have started by unattended cooking engulfed their townhouse at 75 rue Marengère. The twins’ 17-year-old brother and his girlfriend had stepped out briefly to get a pizza.

On Feb. 17, an early morning fire on Saskatchewan’s Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation, which was without fire protection, killed two-year-old Harley Cheenanow and his 18-month-old sister Haley. At the time of the fire, both parents were out and the children were being cared for by their grandmother.

Mounties arrived to find their father carrying the toddlers out of the home.

Mike Carroccetto / Ottawa CitizenA fire truck races to scene of a blaze on Ch. Eloi-Lachapelle near Gracefield, Quebec, Thursday, February 26, 2015. Two children are missing and three other people (two adults and a child) were sent to hospital fire. The home was completely destroyed.

If someone offers you a really good deal on hockey sticks from the back of a van, think twice. Quebec police say a major penalty could be involved.

Two guys in a white van made off with 128 top-end sticks from the Marc Sports store on Maloney Boulevard in Gatineau on the night of Jan. 12.

The sticks were mostly Bauer MX3 models, which retail for $299.99, and some similarly priced top-end CCM Tacks, he said. There were also some Bauer Nexus 8000s ($299) and CCM Supreme 190 Seniors ($199).

“They knew exactly where to go because they are arranged by section and they were not one beside the other,” said owner Alain Brisson. “For sure it’s going to affect our retail business,” he said. The sticks are worth a total of about $38,000.

Police suspect the getaway van was stolen, too.

A security camera got pictures of the two men, but they’re not very clear. Both wore dark clothes and gloves, one had a balaclava and the other a hood. One had snow boots similar to Baffins, the other had running shoes. One had a white patch on his left arm.

Brisson said the two men came in the front door. “They had a special tool to pull out the lock, from what I’ve been told by the locksmith, so it’s a professional job,” he said.

They were inside for three minutes and 40 seconds, then gone with 128 sticks. He suspects the sticks will be sold in another city.

The same two men are suspected of trying to break into the store five days earlier, but they were shut out that time.

Anyone with information about their unsportsmanlike conduct is asked to call Det. Sgt. Marie-Eve Leclerc at 819-243-2345 ext. 7625.

The Sûreté du Québec confirmed that the suspect had escaped before emergency personnel surrounded the building early Thursday.

Gatineau police would not immediately confirm whether the suspect was considered to be armed. Nor did they confirm whether the apartment at 12 Tassé St. was the suspect’s residence.

Gatineau police say they were called for reports of gunfire at 12 Tassé St. at around 2 a.m. Thursday. They found two people shot at the scene. They were taken to hospital. Their wounds are apparently not life-threatening.

Municipal police said they called in their provincial counterparts as reinforcements because it was normal procedure in cases involving gunfire.

Negotiators from the SQ arrived at about 6 a.m., along with an armoured emergency vehicle. At about 10 a.m. police emerged to say the suspect had apparently escaped before they arrived at the scene.

Pat McGrath / Ottawa CitizenArmed officers wait behind a shield at the scene. A man was thought to be barricaded in a apartment in Gatineau Que., on Thursday. Gatineau police brought in a armoured vehicle and evacuated nearby residents.

Police closed off several roads including Tassé and Daniel-Johnson streets and removed about 200 residents from their homes.

The residents were being allowed to return this morning. The district school board announced that nearby Hadley Junior High School and Philemon Wright High School will be closed for the day due to the incident.

Related

“This recall is really precautionary,” he said. “We would never put any vehicles – bus, streetcar, subway train, wheel trans bus – on the street if we did not have 100% confidence in safety. We are risk averse but this is extremely low risk.”

Nova’s spokesperson did not respond to phone messages the National Post left Friday.

Nova has also recalled 865 buses purchased by the city of Montreal and 68 in Gatineau.

Mr. Ross said the defect involves faulty wiring that can fray over time and potentially cause an engine fire. The problem mainly affects buses that have been in service for several years, he said.

The TTC rolled out its articulated buses in December 2013.

If we felt for one moment that there was a safety issue and we had not been advised, we would be taking that up with the manufacturer but we don’t believe that to be the case. We’re confident that the fleet is okay

Nova will formally advise the TTC regarding the recall next week and will eventually repair the buses, he said. Repairs will not affect service and will coincide with routine maintenance appointments.

“If we felt for one moment that there was a safety issue and we had not been advised, we would be taking that up with the manufacturer but we don’t believe that to be the case. We’re confident that the fleet is okay,” he said.

The articulated buses run on TTC routes 29 Dufferin and 7 Bathurst.

More Nova buses are coming to Toronto. The city purchased 153 buses in 2013. Each costs about $500,000, Mr. Ross said.

National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/to0823-kc-bus/feed/0stdPJT-TTCArticulatedBuses-7 .jpgOne law student has a radical proposal for fixing marriage: Cut it off after four yearshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/one-law-student-has-a-radical-proposal-for-fixing-marriage-cut-it-off-after-four-years
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/one-law-student-has-a-radical-proposal-for-fixing-marriage-cut-it-off-after-four-years#commentsFri, 08 Aug 2014 23:59:12 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=501660

Like many couples in their first months of courtship, Véronique Laliberté and Francys-Roch Bisson agreed to take things step by step.

For this Gatineau, Que., couple, this also meant line by line — in the form of a relationship contract. The agreement, they say, sets clear expectations around resources and fidelity, guarantees they not take their partnership for granted, and gives them an easy out should they wish to take it.

“We renewed after three months, we renewed after six months and now we have a contract for one year,” Ms. Laliberté told the National Post this week. “It’s working out pretty well — so far so good. We’re still together, we’re still in love and everything is fine.”

The early days of their relationship coincided with the start of Ms. Laliberté’s masters of law thesis at the University of Ottawa in which she has advocated a legal shakeup that would change the landscape of marriage forever in Canada: Fixed term marriage.

By her plan a fixed-term marriage would legally dissolve after four years, unless a couple visits a lawyer to renew it (a less expensive and onerous proposition than a divorce, she claims). A fixed contract might include a provision vowing not to blend finances and separate property fairly, and it would be something both parties can plan around, she said — no unexpected outbursts of ‘‘I want a divorce.’’ Think of it, Ms. Laliberté said, as a “legally governed trial period” that could lead to a lifelong contract.

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If Canadian law actually changed to allow this, Ms. Laliberté, 27, and Mr. Bisson, 24, want to be the first wed this way — pioneers, if you will.

But that prospect is still far from becoming a reality, experts say, even as the divorce rate hovers around 40% and the number of legal marriages performed each year hit a century-low in 2008 (the last year Statistics Canada gathered marital data) with 4.4. marriages per 1,000 Canadians.

Her proposal, though, has pried open a conversation about the expectations of modern marriage and the state of commitment in a world in which hook-ups and “non-dates” have become the norm for many young people, and economically autonomous adults no longer “need” a life-partner. While proponents see the merits in being extremely sure before devoting for life, critics fear this kind of arrangement permits a kind of commitment-phobia they claim is eroding the institution and cheapening the promise to love and to cherish by nixing that bit about ‘‘as long as we both shall live.’’ Not to mention: what about kids?

“My own sense is these little schemes represent something very real and new about marriage, but that they’re not going to solve it,” marriage historian Stephanie Coontz said of the fixed term arrangement — the likes of which has also been proposed in Australia, Germany and Mexico in recent years as a response to rising divorce rates, but never legally adopted.

Chris Roussakis/Ottawa CitizenVeronique Laliberte poses for a portrait in Gatineau, August 7, 2014. Laliberte wrote her masters of law thesis on four year, fixed-term marriage contracts, open for renewal but also freeing the couple to legally depart sans divorce should things go downhill.

Premarital cohabitation has increased 900% since the 1960s in the U.S., according to a paper published in March by Ms. Coontz’s Council on Contemporary Families. While previous studies linked that co-habitation with higher rates of divorce, more recent studies have found the divorce rate is the same for everybody.

Cohabitation — the obvious non-marriage version of exactly what Ms. Laliberté is proposing — has proved a huge advantage for a lot of people in terms of being able to just leave a partnership when things go awry. But ‘‘living together’’ also has drawbacks.

“We find that once people start sharing rent, merging finances, it’s easy to kind of slide into a marriage. I think the same is true with this five year stuff — we’re married, we should merge our bank account — and five years later, it’s still going to be painful to disengage if it hasn’t worked out,” Ms. Coontz said.

Still, the fixed-term idea makes a good point: Most modern couples, she said, should reassess their relationship regularly — a need that did not exist 60 years ago when couples only knew each other an average of six months before marrying and needed one another to fulfill what we’d now call stereotypical gender roles: The woman keeping house and the man going off to work.

“Now, all of that is gone,” she said. “You start with your rush of love, but that’s not going to get you through — not when you have two individuals with separate careers, equal opportunities to leave the marriage or to stay in it, equal rights within the marriage so that no one takes it for granted that they’re going to have to be the one that makes the concessions, and of course more opportunities than ever because you have two different lives.”

A five-year fixed term, however, does not offer a solution, she said, because “you’ll have the same questions anyway — to what extent has dependency been incurred by one partner? How do you divide up the assets? It’s not going to solve those kinds of hardships.”

HandoutVéronique Laliberté and her boyfriend, Francys-Roch Bisson, have experimented with setting term limits on their relationship. Laliberte wrote her masters of law thesis on four year, fixed-term marriage contracts, open for renewal but also freeing the couple to legally depart sans divorce should things go downhill.

Deborah Moscovitch connects the idea of a legal fixed-term marriage with the rise in hook-up culture and relationships without clearly articulated expectations or labels.

“If a young couple goes into a marriage with this renewable contract, do they really take the time to know and understand their partner? Because they know that there’s an out clause,” said the divorce consultant in Toronto and author of The Smart Divorce. “I think you have to think long and hard about your partner before you commit.”

Ms. Laliberté claims this is precisely the function a fixed-term marriage contract would serve, but Ms. Moscovitch says these kinds of lines can be delineated with a marriage contract, which doesn’t require an overhaul of the legal marriage system. Marriage contracts, when done fairly, she said, “precludes you from having this huge battle.” These arrangements can indeed help stave off problems in a marriage, especially when children are involved, she said.

This is where Andrea Mrozek, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada gets worried. She begs to differ when Ms. Laliberté claims the fixed-term contract would have the same impact on children as a divorce.

“Two adults can do whatever you want … but marriage has a child-centric focus, it exists for the purpose of raising children,” she said. “It’s only when you view two adults alone in the world when you can have the discussion.” How would a child feel, she said, knowing his or her parents could nix their commitment to one another at the looming contract end?

“The lifelong nature of marriage is extinguished in that negotiation,” she said. “I view this as something that cheapens the commitment, something that cheapens the institution.”

Ms. Laliberté’s suggestion sounds a lot like a temporary arrangement practice in Islam, performed by some Shiite Muslims, said Queen’s University law professor Nick Bala. The “mut’a” lasts a specified period of time and ends in the eyes of the law without a divorce.

It’s certainly an interesting academic discussion, he said, but an attempt to change the fundamental underpinnings of the institution is not going to be a politically popular idea — not by a long shot.

“We want people to invest in their relationship on a long term basis, not on the idea of ‘Well this is five years, we’re three years into it, maybe we should hold back in our commitments,'” Mr. Bala said. “As a society we want to support a long term commitment and into old age.

It’s a time-honoured rite of passage of rural Canadian summer: Jumping off a bridge or a tall rock side into cool, clear water. In Wakefield, Que., that tradition happens at a barn-red covered bridge, one of the last remaining in eastern Canada.

“I don’t think anybody who was born here hasn’t jumped off that bridge,” one local said of the crossing that spans a deep part of the Gatineau River over people sunbathing on a rock island below.

But as of this week, jumping the 26 feet will carry a fine of $200 — the result of a municipal and police crackdown on what they deem crowding and unruly behaviour from out-of-towners who host tailgate parties and throw liquor cans in the shallows.

There’s never been a serious injury or fatality, a fact that’s spurred backlash to the decision amongst locals and responsible visitors who now must cease a beloved summer activity or risk breaking the law.

“It really just does seem like in different parts of Canada it’s heading in this direction — it’s controlled and nanny-stated and there’s fines and licensing for everything,” said Hull-Gatineau resident Marc Adornato, who visits the bridge and takes the thrilling plunge three or four times a summer. “It seems as if it’s quashing fun and it’s not even for safety reasons.”

The bridge jump has become a beloved “out-in-the-woods” summer experience for those in the greater Ottawa area, he said, and it’s a shame authorities want to keep people at bay.

But the La Pêche municipality, which owns the bridge, and local police see the bridge jumping differently, calling it a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario.

Claude Giroux, the local councillor for Wakefield who succeeded in getting the fines approved three weeks ago, said he anticipated that kind of reaction.

“What do you do?” he asked. “Do you let things happen and you take the risk? Do you do nothing and let things go on up until something happens and then you’re [blamed]?”

A lot has changed in Wakefield, a booming community that has become an artistic haven and tourist destination. He said locals don’t even want to hang out at the covered bridge anymore because of all the out-of-towners. Residents with homes along or near the water have complained of rowdiness by the bridge at night. One overheard someone yell from the water that a diver had hit a rock in the dark of night. There is inevitably detritus leftover the next day — empty beer cans, sometimes smashed bottles.

“It’s not a nanny state or repressive thing at all,” Mr. Giroux said of the municipality’s reaction. “It’s to restore the enjoyment of that entire area to the folks that enjoy it in a way that everybody benefits.”

Perhaps most troublesome for Mr. Giroux is word that some revelers lit a barrel fire on the covered bridge one evening. The bridge, first built almost 100 years ago in 1915, was burned by arson in the 1980s and rebuilt by the community.

“The rite of passage is perhaps a very nice thing,” he said. “But how many times are you going to rebuild that bridge?”

Constable Martin Fournel of the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais police said he visited the bridge the other day and asked people where they were from. The answers: “Ottawa,” “Gatineau,” “Aylmer.” Some days it’s very crowded, and there are upwards of 100 people jumping off the bridge or laying on the rocks. He believes the rise of social media has spread word about the thrilling bridge jump and things have gotten out of hand. He even saw a guy with a G0-Pro camera, documenting his leap.

Officers posted a temporary sign notifying people of the ban this week, though no fines have been issued yet. He expects some people will still jump, but officers will be monitoring the area routinely during busy parts of the day to nab offenders.

Maxine Patenaude finds it all very sad. The bridge is a focal point in the community, the Ottawa resident said, and everyone is so friendly. Just the other day, she was there and met a local man who bet her it’d take 45 minutes to ride the current from the bridge to the bay. He said “bring your dinghy and come back next week.”

Mr. Giroux said the municipality is also in the process of acquiring the rocky private land beneath the bridge as a donation. The owners don’t want the liability, he said.

Summertime bridge jumping has also fallen out of favour with other municipalities and government-run properties, such as Covehead Bridge on Prince Edward Island where offenders face a minimum $120 fine. In Cape Breton’s Albert Bridge, bridge jumping is only “officially discouraged.”

Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau has been charged with two counts of assault, uttering death threats, cocaine possession and breach of bail conditions after his arrest in Gatineau early Thursday morning after a domestic disturbance call.

Pictures on social media showed many of his belongings thrown in the rubbish outside a home in the latest humiliation of a man who once was considered a rising political star.

Brazeau, dressed in a green shirt, black jacket and pants, was escorted to the Gatineau Court House in handcuffs Thursday morning.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. He will spend Thursday night in custody.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickPatrick Brazeau is escorted into the Gatineau Court House in Gatineau, Quebec on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

Gatineau police spokesman Pierre Lanthier told The Canadian Press that a 39-year-old man was arrested after a 911 phone call about a domestic incident just before 4 a.m.

“It was an altercation between a man and a woman,” he said.

In an earlier media release, Gatineau police said they were called to a residence on Labrosse Boulevard for a domestic disturbance. When police arrived they found a man and woman in a physical altercation on the porch of the home and they arrested the man for an assault on the woman.

Police also said a male friend of the woman inside of the home was threatened by the arrested man. Police said they found a small amount of a “white powder” that could be cocaine on the accused.

The man inside the home is also facing an assault charge, allegedly for an attack on the other arrested man, the CBC is reporting.

A number of reporters took photos outside of the home where the alleged assault took place, where it appeared Brazeau’s belongings, including clothing and childhood photos, had been thrown out.

In February, the RCMP charged Brazeau with one count each of breach of trust and fraud over their spending of taxpayers’ dollars.

A former national chief with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Brazeau was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in January 2009, along with fellow now-suspended senators, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. Brazeau was one of the youngest senator ever to have been appointed to the Red Chamber.

Brazeau was arrested, charged with assault and sexual assault, and subsequently kicked out of the Conservative caucus last February in relation to a domestic assault at his home. Court documents say the alleged victim claimed Brazeau pushed her violently, grabbed her breasts aggressively and ripped her clothing.

Brazeau has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Court documents released in August last year said the RCMP alleged that Brazeau claimed a $22,000 per year housing allowance from the Senate after declaring a home he didn’t own as his primary residence.

He was suspended without pay alongside with Wallin and Duffy in November.

OTTAWA — Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau is in more legal difficulties after police charged him with assault, uttering threats, cocaine possession and breach of bail conditions. The charges followed what police in Gatineau, Que., say was a domestic violence incident in the early hours of Thursday morning. Here is a timeline of Brazeau’s troubled time in politics:

March 31, 2012: Brazeau loses a ballyhooed charity boxing match against Justin Trudeau after the referee called the fight in the middle of the third round.

Nov. 21, 2012: A Senate committee is asked to examine housing allowances Brazeau claimed for a home in Maniwaki, Que., despite appearing to live full-time in another residence within a 100-kilometre radius of Ottawa.

Feb. 7, 2013: Brazeau is arrested after a 911 call from his residence.

Feb. 8, 2013: After a night in jail, Brazeau is charged with assault and sexual assault and released on bail. Meanwhile, the Senate hires external auditing firm to review Brazeau’s expense claims, as well as those of senators Mike Duffy and Mac Harb.

May 9, 2013: The Senate releases a report into housing claims, along with a Deloitte audit. Deloitte says the three senators live in Ottawa area, but that the rules and guidelines are unclear, making it difficult to say categorically that anyone broke the rules. Harb and Brazeau are ordered to repay $51,000 and $48,000, respectively. Harb says he will fight the ruling. Duffy earlier repaid disputed amounts with money he got from Harper’s then chief of staff Nigel Wright.

May 12, 2013: RCMP says it will examine Senate expense claims.

May 14, 2013: Brazeau says he also broke no rules and is exploring all options to overturn an order to pay the money back.

May 16, 2013: Duffy resigns from Conservative caucus.

May 17, 2013: Sen. Pamela Wallin also announces she’s leaving the Conservative caucus. Her travel expenses, which totalled more than $321,000 since September 2010, have been the subject of an external audit since December.

June 13, 2013: Brazeau and Harb are given 30 days to reimburse taxpayers for their disallowed living expenses — bills that together total more than $280,000.

Aug. 26, 2013: Harb, who had earlier left the Liberals to sit as an independent, resigns from the upper chamber. He also drops a lawsuit and pledges to repay his questioned expense claims.

Oct. 17, 2013: Claude Carignan, the government leader in the Senate, introduces motions to suspend Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin. The motions call for the three to be stripped of their pay, benefits and Senate resources.

Oct. 25, 2013: Brazeau says Carignan offered him “a backroom deal”: apologize publicly for his actions in exchange for a lighter punishment. Carignan acknowledges the conversation but described the offer as one made out of “friendship.”

Oct. 30, 2013: Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella rules that an attempt to cut off debate on motions to suspend the trio is out of order. This delays again the effort to suspend them.

Nov. 4, 2013: Brazeau addresses the Senate chamber for what he acknowledges could be the last time, making an emotional appeal for senators to reconsider his case. At one point, he addresses his children: “It is very important that you understand that I am not guilty of what some of these people are accusing me of. … I am not a thief, a scammer, a drunken Indian, a drug addict, a failed experiment or a human tragedy.”

Nov. 5, 2013: Senators vote to suspend Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin without pay — but with health, dental and life insurance benefits intact — for the remainder of the parliamentary session, which could last two years.

Feb. 4, 2014: The RCMP lay charges of fraud and breach of trust against Harb and Brazeau.

February, 2014: Brazeau takes a job as day manager at an Ottawa strip club.

April 10, 2014: Gatineau police arrest Brazeau after a 4 a.m. domestic violence call. He is charged with assault, possession of drugs, breach of bail conditions and uttering threats.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/suspended-senator-patrick-brazeau-arrested-after-police-called-to-his-home-in-gatineau-at-4-a-m/feed/2stdPatrick Brazeau's belongings, including what looks like a bag of marijuana, were thrown outside the home of an alleged assault.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickOttawa woman saved in ‘spectacular rescue’ after plunging into Gatineau River as winter blast hits the cityhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/spectacular-rescue-as-officials-pull-woman-from-car-in-icy-gatineau-river
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OTTAWA — A 52-year-old woman is recovering after what police called a “spectacular rescue” from her car in the icy Gatineau River across from Ottawa.

Police and firefighters pulled the woman from her car Wednesday morning after she lost control of the vehicle on Chemin St. Louis and drove into the Gatineau River.

Gatineau police Sgt. Pierre Lanthier says they made the rescue with the help of a driver of a flatbed who used his crane to get a fireman on the top of the vehicle to rescue the woman.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/spectacular-rescue-as-officials-pull-woman-from-car-in-icy-gatineau-river/feed/0stdD.J. McCluskey risks his bike along Prince of Wales during the slushy morning commute from the south end of Ottawa.Pat McGrath/The Ottawa CitizenWayne Cuddington / Ottawa CitizenAdrian Wyld / The Canadian PressPMO background check of Brazeau missed tax address discrepancy now at heart of RCMP investigationhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/pmo-background-check-of-brazeau-missed-tax-address-discrepancy-now-at-heart-of-rcmp-investigation
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OTTAWA — An in-depth background check of Patrick Brazeau by senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office either ignored or overlooked the conflicting addresses now at the heart of an RCMP probe into the embattled senator’s finances.

A court filing by the lead investigator in a breach-of-trust probe revealed last week that the Mounties are looking into tax returns filed by the former high-profile aboriginal leader.

At one time, when Brazeau was claiming aboriginal tax status, his driver’s licence and passport showed his address as his former father-in-law’s house on the Kiniw Zibi Mika First Nation reserve in Maniwaki, Que.

Police, however, say he was actually living in Gatineau, about 90 minutes away, directly across the river from the national capital.

A spokeswoman for Brazeau, Debby Simms, declined to comment because of the ongoing investigations.

Privy Council Office official Raymond Rivet says a background check was done when Brazeau was appointed as a Conservative senator in 2008, but he would not say whether the address discrepancy was spotted.

OTTAWA — The Mountie investigation into Sen. Patrick Brazeau is being expanded beyond questionable expense claims to include personal tax exemptions he claimed as a status Indian, court records show.

The newly released documents indicate the RCMP want to dig deeper into the former Conservative’s financial affairs.

Brazeau has been accused of breach of trust by filing allegedly inappropriate travel and housing claims, and the lead Mountie in the case has asked the Senate for more information, including attendance records.

Brazeau’s passport and Quebec driver’s licence at one time listed his former father-in-law’s house on the Kiniw Zibi Mika First Nation reserve at Maniwaki, Que., as his address.

Mike Carroccetto / Ottawa CitizenCrown prosecutor Sylvain Petitclerc, holding the Patrick Brazeau file, gets set to address the media at the courthouse in Gatineau June 10 on the assault charges against the senator.

A court document, filed Thursday by RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton, said Brazeau did not live there but used the address to claim aboriginal income-tax exemptions between 2004 and 2008. A “further investigation pertaining to those income tax claims” and the use of Daryl Tenasco’s address would be conducted, Horton states.

That criminal probe is apart from the breach-of-trust Senate allowance investigation, and from charges of assault and sexual assault filed in February in relation to a case that involved a disturbance at his house in Gatineau.

Brazeau, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the assault charges, and both sets of expense allegations have not been proven in court.

Through interviews and statements in the Senate expense probe, RCMP say Brazeau claimed to be living at his father’s house in Maniwaki, about 140 kilometres north of Ottawa.

“The investigation has shown Brazeau does not live in Maniwaki, nor does he own a home there,” said the court filing, known as a production order.

Senators who live more than 100 kilometres outside the capital are allowed to claim housing costs for a second residence in Ottawa, an allowance that has been under growing scrutiny.

The RCMP is also investigating former Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy and Liberal Sen. Mac Harb for breach of trust.

He was renting a house on our little street, which is a private street in Gatineau, and then he was often in the way

Brazeau, a former high-profile aboriginal leader, was appointed to the Senate in December 2008. At the time, the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic wing of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office, asked the RCMP to conduct a background check, and the address listed was a home in Gatineau, just across the river from Ottawa.

The investigation, which touches on the senator’s turbulent personal life, showed that Brazeau did not start filing for the Senate housing allowance until three months after he and his wife separated in December 2010, say the court documents.

He switched his primary residence listing from the family home in Gatineau to his father’s home at Maniwaki, making him eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in housing and mileage expenses.

An independent audit of Brazeau’s expenses resulted in a Senate committee ordering him to repay $48,000. The Senate has started docking his pay in order to collect.

Police interviewed his ex-wife, former father-in-law, assistants and neighbours, including the music teacher living above his father’s home, who said Brazeau hasn’t lived there in 16 years and “cannot recall ever seeing him” at the residence.

Lorraine Rochon, the senator’s executive assistant, told police Brazeau “visited Maniwaki once or twice a month,” and inquired with the Senate finance wing about his eligibility for the housing allowance.

Defending himself publicly, Brazeau has said an email response from Senate employee Nicole Proulx was proof the upper chamber gave him the green light for expenses, but Horton’s sworn statement says the email was not definitive.

“I do not interpret Ms. Proulx’s response as authorization for Senator Brazeau to commence claiming a (national capital region) housing allowance, but rather direction on where Ms. Rochon can read the policy pertaining to such matters.”

A neighbour who lived close to the home Brazeau claimed as his second residence in Gatineau say they assumed he lived there full-time.

Denise Fontaine, whose Gatineau home faces Brazeau’s backyard, said she did not know the senator very well, but saw him from time to time.

“I do not know this gentleman,” she told The Canadian Press in French during a telephone interview.

“He lives, as I said in the documents of the RCMP, he was renting a house on our little street, which is a private street in Gatineau, and then he was often in the way, but I cannot say more to you.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/rcmp-expand-patrick-brazeau-probe-dig-into-ex-tory-senators-status-indian-claims/feed/0stdSenator Patrick Brazeau is escorted out the Parliament Buildings after he was suspended by from duties by the Senate in Ottawa February 12Mike Carroccetto / Ottawa CitizenIn Quebec's Outaouais region, a 1930s-era decree lets a committee decide when hairdressers can cut your hairhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/in-quebecs-outaouais-region-when-where-and-how-much-you-pay-to-cut-your-hair-is-decided-by-committee
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Last month, for Quebec’s June 24 holiday, Gatineau hairdresser Sylvie Rose intended to set up a small kiosk to promote her employer, Studio Hullywood, to revellers.

Of course, Ms. Rose operates in Outaouais, the only part of Canada in which every aspect of hairdressing — from minimum prices to opening hours — remains strictly controlled by a government-mandated committee.

If Ms. Rose set up a table at Gatineau’s municipal celebrations during a mandatory holiday, the Joint Committee of Outaouais Hairdressers told her, she would face fines of more than $1,500.

“That committee is just there to make money for themselves … we need to hitch up our pants and fight them,” said Ms. Rose, one of a vocal chorus of hairdressers looking to abolish the 1930s-era legislation keeping the committee in power.

Currently, by government decree all Outaouais hairdressers must close on Sundays, work only from 8:30 to five on Saturdays and are forbidden from working evenings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Hair salons and barbers are also required to file detailed monthly reports cataloguing the hours worked and wages paid to each staff member.

“If you want to find one law in Canada that represents red tape, this is it,” said François Vincent, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has campaigned for the law’s abolition.

In a region largely composed of government workers, the restrictions leave most residents with a decidedly narrow window in which to get their hair cut without needing to skip work.

And, if Christmas Eve or prom night — the two busiest days in the hairdressing calendar — should happen to fall on a Sunday, Outaouais’ hair-cutting class must watch as carloads of clients cross the Ottawa River into Ontario.

That is, unless they want to risk a $1,000 fine, as well as an additional $500 for every hairdresser found on shift after hours or on the Sabbath.

“I would gladly have gone to my client’s house and done their hair, but I was too afraid to get caught,” said Ms. Rose, who said this year, her teenage clients had to get their prom hair in Ottawa at a 60% premium.

On other occasions, when a dye-job went awry only a few minutes before closing time, Ms. Rose said she’s had to smuggle clients home so she could redo the procedure in secret.

Outaouais’s spas and beauty salons, meanwhile, are free to keep masseuses and manicurists on hand at all hours, but must send the hairdressers home early, botching innumerable spa packages.

“I have to refuse plenty of appointments, it’s very inconvenient,” said Paule Charette, co-proprietor of Gatineau’s Studio 157 beauty salon.

The Outaouais Joint Committee also controls minimum haircutting prices. On Wednesday, acting on a committee request, the Quebec government announced that the base cost of an Outaouais haircut would be boosted from $15 to $17.

For opponents, it was a clear sign of how out-of-touch the committee has become. “Me, I don’t know one salon that charges $15 a cut,” said Dominique Brisebois, owner of Gatineau’s atmosp’hair and the public face of the anti-committee movement.

She has refused to pay membership dues for years, and successfully took the Joint Committee to court to avoid providing them with obligatory personal information such as her marriage status and Social Insurance Number.

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Since 2011, Ms. Brisebois has also operated the Facebook page “Abolish the Joint Committee of Outaouais Hairdressers.”

“They publish propaganda saying that if we no longer have the Joint Committee, everybody will start charging $5 for a haircut, but everywhere else in Quebec there are no Joint Committees and hairdressers have no problem living well,” she said, adding that expanded hours would only help her to hire new ranks of late-night employees.

The CFIB concurs, noting in a report that 90 other Quebec employment sectors have seen their Joint Committee decrees abolished, yet wages have only increased. “It’s very outdated,” said Mr. Vincent.

The Joint Committee could not be reached by the National Post; a message on the body’s answering machine announced that their entire staff would be on vacation until the end of July.

Nevertheless, in a recent interview with French-language radio, Committee president Stéphane Drouin said that their controls had ensured a good living for the region’s hair-cutters.

“When I travel to other regions, I take note that we have a better quality of life due to our higher salaries,” he said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/in-quebecs-outaouais-region-when-where-and-how-much-you-pay-to-cut-your-hair-is-decided-by-committee/feed/1stdDominique-Briseboiscut-1cut-2‘All I wanted to do was take care of the kids’: Neighbour sheltered children during Quebec daycare shootinghttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/neighbour-sheltered-children-during-quebec-daycare-shooting
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/neighbour-sheltered-children-during-quebec-daycare-shooting#commentsMon, 08 Apr 2013 05:58:54 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=289254

After dozens of children piled into a Gatineau couple’s home as a shooting incident unfolded at a daycare next door, a boy no older than five years old told Estelle Mayer, “I saw the hunter come in, but he didn’t find me.”

Ms. Mayer and her husband, Rhéal, were at home when their basement tenant, Louise Robitaille, told them that children were standing outside the daycare centre on Rue Gamelin, in the cold with no jackets. It didn’t look like a fire drill.

What they didn’t know at the time was that police had responded after a 911 call was made reporting a man with a gun was threatening people at the daycare. Officers arrived just three minutes later, but the shooter was already dead, along with a second man.

“I didn’t want to know,” Ms. Mayer said. “All I wanted to do was take care of the kids.”

Racines de vie Montessori websiteThe interior of the Racines de vie Montessori on Gamelin St., Gatineau.

None of the 53 children who attended the Racines de Vie (Roots of Life) Montessori school in two houses at 225 and 229 Rue Gamelin were hurt in the shooting.

One man was found dead on the floor with a shotgun by his side. The second man wasn’t found until all the children had been removed from the house.

Police said Saturday a 38-year-old French citizen was one of the dead men. His name was not released.

The other dead man was earlier identified as Robert Charron, the estranged husband of the woman who operates the Racines de vie Montessori daycare. While police have not confirmed details, media reports have said Charron shot the 38-year-old man, who was an employee of the daycare, and was intending to kill his wife before failing and then turning the gun on himself.

Sean Kilpatrick / CP A child is kissed as police release children to family at the scene of a shooting in Gatineau on Friday April 5, 2013.

Ms. Robitaille said she had just returned home from shopping Friday morning when she saw the children outside.

“It was a day I had to be here to take care of those children,” Ms. Robitaille said.

Several children were crying because it was so cold outside — they weren’t wearing jackets or shoes. She told the children not to cry before she went to get Ms. Mayer.

Ms. Mayer said she and her husband moved the furniture in the living room to accommodate the 53 children who flooded their Gatineau home.

Fred Chartrand/THE CANADIAN PRESSA man greets a young boy who sticks his head out of a bus window used to hold children waiting for parents to pick them up at the scene of a shooting in Gatineau on Friday April 5, 2013.

The children sat quietly on the floor as a police officer read out their names one by one to make sure they were all there.

Once the immediate shock had worn off, a daycare staff member began to sing to the children in French. The children sang along as if they were back at their daycare down the street, Ms. Mayer said.

Ms. Mayer, a grandmother, had books for the daycare staff to read to the children.

Ms. Mayer fed the children cookies and water before staff from the Hull campus of the Gatineau Hospital across the street sent over 53 lunches.

With so many children present in the two modest-sized houses, there’s a good chance some might have witnessed the shooting, Gatineau police Chief Mario Harel said Friday.

Ms. Robitaille wasn’t sure what the little boy who told her he went undetected by the hunter saw or if he knew something bad happened. The boy then held his finger to his mouth to show that he kept quiet at the daycare.

Thanks began to pour in to Ms. Mayer and Ms. Robitaille for opening up their home to the freezing children. Parents gave Ms. Mayer thank-you cards, while Gatineau Mayor Marc Bureau made a personal visit to her home.

Meghan Hurley / Postmedia News The scene near the Racines de vie Montessori daycare on Gamelin St., in Gatineau, Que. on Friday. Fifty-three children are safe after an incident that involved gunfire.

Dozens of toddlers wrapped in blankets and oversized coats were carried away from a Gatineau daycare Friday after two men died in an apparent murder-suicide, believed to have been sparked by a marital dispute.

None of the 53 children who attended the Racines de Vie (Roots of Life) Montessori school — in two houses in Gatineau, a community just across the river from Ottawa — were hurt in the shooting.

One body was found in each of the houses, which are across the street from a hospital campus.

Robert Charron, who is married to the woman who operates the daycare, was one of the men who died, police confirmed Friday night.

“We’re not commenting on his role,” said Sgt. Jean-Paul LeMay, adding that his age was intentionally withheld.

Sean Kilpatrick / CP Children are picked up from the care of police at the scene of a shooting in Gatineau on Friday April 5, 2013.

Police said the second victim is a 38-year-old French citizen, the Ottawa Citizen reports. They have notified his family but have not released his name out of respect for his family’s loss, the Ottawa Citizen reports.

While police said that a recent marital separation might have played a role in the shooting, they emphasized there was no evidence at this time of a love triangle.

Daycare workers were lauded by police for keeping the children safe from the shooter.

But with so many children present in the two modest-sized houses, there’s a good chance some might have witnessed the shooting, said Gatineau police Chief Mario Harel.

There were five babies inside one house and 48 children as old as five in the other.

When he heard about the shooting on the radio, Dave Sugden rushed over to check on his four-year-old daughter, Hazel.

“I just about threw up,” Sugden said. “It’s terrifying.”

Sean Kilpatrick / CP A child is kissed as police release children to family at the scene of a shooting in Gatineau on Friday April 5, 2013.

An hour later he and Hazel, in her pink jacket, were standing outside waiting for news.

Police were called to the educational daycare at 10:27 a.m. after a 911 call reporting a man with a gun was threatening people inside. Officers arrived just three minutes later but the shooter was already dead.

One man was found dead on the floor with a shotgun by his side. The second man — a worker at the school — wasn’t found until all the children were removed from the house. Police were still investigating the sequence of events and said ballistics would determine whether the two men were killed by the same weapon. Shots were fired in both of the houses.

“It’s terrifying to hear that a gunman goes into a daycare, it’s always terrifying,” said one parent, who didn’t want to be identified.

“Every parent’s worst nightmare.”

After the shooting, a neighbour took the children in and, along with paramedics, helped calm them down and brought in lunches.

Police later escorted children to their parents.

A dozen police cruisers, at least seven ambulances, and two city buses stood by to provide shelter.

David Kawai / Postmedia News The scene outside a daycare in Gatineau where a man has died following reports of gunfire.

Omar El Tawali said “all sorts of images” flashed through his head when he heard there had been a shooting at the daycare his three-year-old daughter Zain attends. He found Zain unharmed and carried her away to find her mother, who was still crying two hours after the shooting.

“I don’t think the kids saw anything,” he said. Even after the shooting, he said, the daycare is “a great place, and it’s in a good area.”

Amar Singh, who lives less than a dozen houses down from the school, heard the chorus of sirens getting louder and louder but assumed that they were just passing by on the way to a major accident.

Instead ambulance and police vehicles stopped just feet away from his home, where he’s lived for 38 years.

“There’s no reason for me to worry about my own safety, but you don’t know in this day and age, especially with what we’ve heard about these shootings involving kids. Sometimes you worry,” Singh said. “These are small kids. What have they done to deserve this?”

Yellow police tape cordoned off a section of the street, which was lined with squad cars and emergency vehicles.

Police were still investigating at the two houses where the shootings took place Friday night. Police said no additional information about the investigation would be released until next week.

“We are proceeding with a very careful investigation,” said Sgt. LeMay.

“An explanation would be pure speculation; we’ll carry out our investigation and report on the results.”

Police say they will try to piece together a timeline of what happened.

A warning from Gatineau police: don’t get naked with a stranger online.

It may seem like obvious advice, but police have received a string of complaints from men who claim they were seduced into cybersex and then blackmailed.

The unsuspecting men described how they met women on online dating sites and were encouraged to strip down and get naughty over the course of a webcam date. Once deemed to have captured the man in a sexually compromising position, the woman threatens to unleash footage of the act online unless he pays up.

Sgt. Jean-Paul Lemay said the scam could be linked to a suspected ring of con artists being investigated by police in Singapore. It’s unclear whether the cases in Gatineau are all related to each other, Lemay added.

“This type of investigation presents many challenges — mainly that the blackmailers might not be Canadian and likely live on another continent,” Lemay said.

So far, nearly 10 men have come forward to expose the scam to Gatineau police but Lemay said there’s likely more who have kept quiet.

Following police crackdowns on a well-known Ottawa-area nude beach, the area’s nudists complain they are being scapegoated for the actions of a mysterious flasher running wild in the Gatineau woods.

“There’s been a crazy guy — who naturists have also been trying to catch — running around exposing himself to people,” said Judy Williams, with the Federation of Canadian Naturists.

On July 19 and 20, in a raid fittingly dubbed “Operation Nude,” RCMP, park officials and officers with the local MRC des Collines police swept into Gatineau Park on ATVs and rounded up a 68-year-old man and a woman in her 40s.

“It would seem to us that police should have more important matters such as public safety to attend to than to launch sting operations — just to catch someone innocently sunbathing as nature intended,” wrote Ms. Williams in an email to the National Post.

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Indirectly, however, Operation Nude may also have turned up the elusive flasher. As the 40-something woman was being hauled away by police, she told officers she had just seen the flasher expose himself to her – and then flee in a canoe.

A “sweep of the area” turned up a 54-year-old man from the nearby town of La Pêche, Que, said a police statement. Although the man has been charged with indecent exposure, investigators have yet to confirm whether he is the same man repeatedly seen jumping at hikers and picnickers in the nude — usually while performing an autoerotic act.

“Only time will tell if it’s the same person,” said Ms. Williams.

The 68-year-old and the woman, who were arrested a day apart, have been charged with nudity.

The latest raid was near-identical to a September, 2011 raid, when at least a dozen plainclothes officers swept through the park to nab five male sunbathers between the ages of 39 and 70.

“Obviously, this type of behavior attracts other individuals who masturbate and intimidate users,” wrote the police in a subsequent statement.

For decades, nudists have been frequenting areas of Gatineau Park, a sprawling wilderness park just north of Ottawa that is also home to the former summer estate of Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Meech Lake, where Prime Minister Brian Mulroney negotiated the eponymous Meech Lake Accord at a lakeside vacation home.

Intentionally, the park’s nude areas are some of the most secluded — and least picturesque — areas of the park.

“You really have to work at getting down there to be offended,” said Ms. Williams.

For a brief period in the 1980s, one small beach was even set aside as an officially-sanctioned nude beach. “It can get really crowded here, and you have to come early if you want the best places to lie in the sun,” a 39-year-old nudist told the Ottawa Citizen in 1984.

However, by 2005, Gatineau Park’s Master Plan noted that nudism is a “prohibited” activity, and warned that it may have a “negative impact on visitor appreciation.”

Little Beach, a hotspot for nudists, is now marked by a simple black sign reading, in English and French, “Nudism is prohibited under article 174 of the Criminal Code.”

The park’s sheer size has insulated most nudists from prosecution, but following a recent rash of complaints concerning the woodlands exhibitionist, nudists have found themselves the target of stepped-up police patrols.

“[Nudity] was never an authorized activity, but it was tolerated,” said Lt. André Levesque with the MRC des Collines police. “We have taken the position not to tolerate it any more.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/crackdown-on-nudity-at-ottawa-area-beach-exposes-naturists-fury/feed/0stdThe beach at Gatineau Park. On July 19 and 20, in a raid fittingly dubbed “Operation Nude,” RCMP, park officials and officers with the local MRC des Collines police swept into Gatineau Park on ATVs and rounded up a 68-year-old man and a woman in her 40s.Nine-year-old Quebec girl pulled from soccer tournament for wearing hijabhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/nine-year-old-quebec-girl-pulled-from-soccer-tournament-for-wearing-hijab
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/nine-year-old-quebec-girl-pulled-from-soccer-tournament-for-wearing-hijab#commentsTue, 10 Jul 2012 04:51:46 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=192381

Bruno Schlumberger / Postmedia NewsRayane Benatti was told to take off her headscarf for safety reasons, but she refused.

OTTAWA — A nine-year-old Gatineau, Que., girl who refused to remove her headscarf was forced to stand on the sidelines Sunday as her team played — and won — the final match of a soccer tournament.

The order came just days after the International Football Association Board voted to lift its hijab ban based on the fact “there is no medical literature concerning injuries as a result of wearing a headscarf,” the organization stated on its website.

Rayane Benatti was told to take off her headscarf for safety reasons, but she refused.

“It made me feel very sad,” she said Monday. “I love soccer.”

Gatineau’s regional soccer association maintains it made the right decision. Until the international organization approves a design, colour and material for headscarves during matches, “scarves of all sorts” will remain banned, said Gatineau’s director of tournaments Marc St-Amour.

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“It’s not because she was wearing a hijab — it’s because she was wearing a piece of equipment that is not recognized,” Mr. St-Amour said.

On July 5, the International Football Association Board “agreed to unanimously approve — temporarily during a trial period — the wearing of headscarves.” The organization will define the design, colour and material at a meeting in October.

It made me feel very sad. I love soccer

“The piece of equipment needs to go through a process,” Mr. St-Amour said.

Due to protests, Rayane was allowed to play a game on Friday and another on Saturday morning but was refused participation in the following three games.

Despite her love of soccer, Rayane said she was glad she refused to remove her scarf — an item she has been wearing daily since October 2011.

“I decided to wear the headscarf out of love for Allah,” Rayane said. “Some people decide not to do it because they don’t have enough courage. I had the courage to do it.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/nine-year-old-quebec-girl-pulled-from-soccer-tournament-for-wearing-hijab/feed/0stdRayane Benatti was told to take off her headscarf for safety reasons, but she refused. Three believed dead, man in custody in near Ottawahttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/three-believed-dead-man-in-custody-in-quebec-near-ottawa
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/three-believed-dead-man-in-custody-in-quebec-near-ottawa#commentsFri, 25 May 2012 03:46:32 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=176691

AYLMER, Que. — One man was in custody Thursday evening as police in Quebec investigated a multiple homicide in the community of Aylmer, near Ottawa.

Though police would not confirm the number of victims found inside the home near the Rivermead golf club, sources told the Ottawa Citizen police had discovered three bodies.

Police said they would not release any information about the victims until all family members were notified.

They also declined to provide the age of the man in custody, or reveal where he was taken into custody.

A 911 call came in to Gatineau police just after 1 p.m. Thursday. Sources indicated the call came in response to gunshots.

The house is listed online as a bed and breakfast called A la Riviere au Bois Dormant. However, reports suggested the residence was now serving as a halfway house.

Late Thursday afternoon, the driveway of the two-storey house was cordoned off with police tape, a green Toyota parked in the driveway.

By around 6 p.m., police were also investigating a second crime scene at the nearby golf club. An abandoned Pontiac minivan, parked behind the clubhouse, was surrounded by police tape. Brightly coloured children’s toys were visible inside the van, as was a red gasoline container.

Meanwhile, the rest of the people at the club went about their business, seemingly not distracted by the police presence. Golf-shirted employees hauled golf bags into the building nearby while golfers teed off at the driving range a few hundred metres away.

Shortly after 6 p.m. two investigators, who were also wearing brightly coloured golf shirts, began taking notes around the vehicle.